Our theme was "Money Magic" and it turned out that the magic for the evening was right on the money! But first we discussed our plan for inviting all clubs within a reasonable distance of Indianapolis to join us at our annual Magic Picnic on June 22. It is always a great event with food and magic in a beautiful outdoor setting at one of the largest city parks in the country. Feel free to check our website for details.

Our second "on the money" event was the formal initiation ritual of new member, Doug Jave. We all know Doug as a superb magician and he proved it to us with some astounding money magic later in the evening. We are proud to welcome Doug into our Assembly #31.

And then it was time to move on to multiple miraculous effects with coins and bills. Daniel Lee showed us his take on the Extreme Burn 2.0. Our President, Taylor Martin, shared a "Brief History of Money," including a description of the origin of the picayune. He also did a nice four coins and a card, and taught us the "Taylor Twist", his method of moving coins through his hand one at a time.

Jim Croop asked for a dollar bill, but it turned out to be counterfeit and using the Scottie York Counterfeit Bill routine was able to save the owner from embarrassment and jail. However, the owner of the bill clearly imagined it was a dollar and four quarters were produced from the remains of the counterfeit bill which allowed Jim to move on to the Garrett Thomas Imagination Coins routine.

Very long time member, Tom Winterrowd did his version of a half dollar traveling invisibly from one hand to the other which he termed "Very Costly." With two half dollars in his right hand he tossed one invisibly to his left hand. Unfortunately, he missed, leaving him with only one half dollar. He commented that he had been working on this effect for some time and that every time he misses, it costs him fifty cents!

Finally, it should be noted that newly inducted member, Doug Jave, taught us how to transition a borrowed bill into a bill divided into four quarters. To top it off, he used the box which formerly had contained his membership pin, and which was presented to him earlier in the evening, as the prop for his magic!

Beware the Ides of March! Also beware magicians tasked with presenting “Dangerous Magic” (this month’s theme). After a brief business meeting during which we approved the upcoming May 17, 2014 lecture by Joshua Jay and also once again nominated Steve Spence for Central Plains RVP, things got seriously dangerous.

President Taylor Martin presented “Truth”, an effect designed to discourage bullying in which the “bully” is required to promise that they will never bully another person in the future. The punishment for lying is being cut in half by a rope. Fortunately, the “bully” passed the test. Next up, Tom Winterrowd presented the mystery of a tube in which he placed a golden wooden cube. The tube was bisected with a dagger and yet the golden cube passed straight through the dagger, undamaged. Daniel Lee shared that he became fascinated with dangerous magic after watching Barry Rice perform his razor swallowing act at last year’s Winter Spectacle. Daniel’s mother made him promise right then and there that he wouldn’t swallow razors. Instead, Daniel dazzled us with his gut wrenching needle swallowing routine, ably assisted by compeer Jim Croop who verified that Daniel had truly swallowed the 20 or so needles before they reappeared from his mouth, threaded upon black thread. Jay Newby continued the theme using a switchblade, a brown paper bag and a deck of cards. After brazenly announcing what his real name was (for security reasons I won’t list it here) prior to entering the local witness protection program, he proceeded to find a chosen card by blindly sticking the knife through it. Don Miller, ever the professional, called Jay (if that is his name) back in front of the room to try out his rope through neck routine that he swore he’d only just learned that day. Fortunately for Jay, Don is a quick learner and no blood was spilt. Finally, although diverging from the theme, Doug Jave, after swearing us all to secrecy, demonstrated and explained his unique and original method of producing a sponge ball from the flame. What made it unique was that after the production the audience visibly sees smoke emanating from inside the sponge ball. Additionally, he demonstrated how he could do a double production using the same principle.

Thankfully, considering the theme of the night, all compeers left the building unscathed and unscarred!

President's Letter

Compeers and friends:

Welcome to the magic city of Indianapolis. If you're a fan of magic or practice the world's oldest performance art yourself, I hope there's something here to make you want to come to an S.A.M. #31 meeting. The Indianapolis magic clubs, which includes Ring #10 of the I.B.M., meet together every first Monday @ 7:00 pm at the United Methodist Church at 30 N. Audubon Ave. in Irvington. The church is right behind Jockamo's Pizza on Washington St./U.S. 40. Please enter through the east side doors, go up the stairs, turn left at the top, and we are usually in the first meeting room on the right.

As the President of #31, I bring not only a love of magic to the position, but as a professional performer and producer of magic shows, I hope to make the meetings a fun time to learn and share magic and illusion. My personal passion is magic history, so I always try to add a bit of our art's past to my presentations. Also, with our magic shows here in Indy, that include Christian and Katalina's "Mindtripping" weekends at the Hilton Downtown and my own Indy Magic Monthly, allow the public to see shows weekly.

The theme of our March 3, 2014 meeting is Dangerous Tricks ("Et tu, Brute!") The theme for our April 7 meeting is Money Magic. These could be interesting. Hope to see you on the first Monday evening of each month.

Maria Ibanez shared the following sad news with S.A.M. members from Rachel Colombini through Simone Marron.

"Terrible news. Aldo suffered a catastrophic stroke yesterday. Left side of brain dead spreading fast to the right side, paralyzed, no speech, hospice taking over now. It will be just days, nothing we can do. Sorry to have to give you this news."

Assembly #31 members and regional VP Steve Spence performed at the Veteran's Home in West Lafayette, IN, along with David Kirby and Irish Joe. Taylor Martin, as Rodney The Younger, mc'd, along with 30 year S.A.M.member Phil Dubbs. This all took place on Oct. 26. About 50 veterans who are residents, plus their families, were in attendance. The show was also streamed to the rest of the hospital for those that could not leave their rooms. David Kirby did his classic magic act with a straight jacket escape, Irish Joe did a set of children's magic, Phil and Steve did closeup before the show, and Taylor performed his famous Bullet, Block, and Ribbon. He also provided the music for the event. All that attended seemed to enjoy the performance. A fine piano player named Linda played patriotic tunes and incidental tunes. We thank David Kirby for arranging the show.